Massive social Engineering to accommodate the new arrivals!

We just adopted 6 babies, 1 gorgeous rooster, and 6 hens. Our friend is leaving the state, and we made it by just before the humane society visit. We still only have 4 pens, and Sammie definitely needs his own domain! Being an established rooster and all... Spurs almost 2 inches long! So we brought all our new additions home, waited until dark, then began some complex chicken social engineering. After a few hours of measuring, discussion, research, further discussion, compromise, we went into action. 

The first move was to take the 'teenagers' (5 chickens that are about 4 months old) out of the portable and put them in the main pen (with the other 30 chickens) under the watchful rule of Racer and his son Black Cape. We were thinking they were old enough to hold their own with the other hens, especially if introduced as a group. So, in they went, up on the roost. The very last one we caught, squawked just like her mama - you'd think we were killing her! But she quieted down as soon as she got on the roost with her sisters.

Then, we had to move the dillies. We had decided they needed a change of scenery. Although they have been laying eggs, we haven't gotten any, or, very few. There was a little mouse family living in the downstairs level of their condo (I've even seen them upstairs) that was eating all the eggs. I was trying to tell the dillies that they should eat the mice, but they were either too timid or, well, they are picky eaters bot they may have been eating eggs also (but leaving the shells; they never deign to eat shells). We thus decided to move them to the portable. Shake them up a little.

Then we moved all the new crew to the transition pen.

Except for one. The smallest baby. We named him Buddy and took him into the brooder to keep Coco company.

Who is Coco? Coco is a month-old Cuckoo Moran of undetermined gender that arrived with the 25 meat chicks (our free rare exotic chick) that now had to be separated from them to avoid being trampled by their fat little growing-like-crazy, rushing-to-the-food-trough bodies. He-she was lonely in the brooder all by his-herself.

Next day:

We woke up, and eagerly ran put to see how everyone was doing. the teens were fine, running around the big pen, not picked too much (they're fast). we looked in the transition pen, and there were Sammie and his ladies, but wait! where are the babies?!? Nowhere to be seen! We looked in the entire pen, and....no babies! Could they have escaped? Could the other chickens have eaten them? No, there'd be evidence, feathers or something, since there were 7 of them. Wait! There they are! They had all slipped under the wall between the transition pen and the main pen (the previous residents had dug a little tunnel just big enough for babies). There they were, running around in a little group, darting to and fro, on their big adventure. They seemed happy enough, so we left them there.

Having done that, we noticed that the Angel that was in the Mary's pen was unhappy yet again. If you recall, we moved her there because she was getting tag-teamed by Spot and Black Cape, and was traumatized, shivering in the corner. Well, now there are 2 roosters in the Mary's pen, and, sure enough, they are tag-teaming that same poor Angel. And for the entire month or so that she has been there, she has only laid one egg. Well, Spot was the big troublemaker in the main pen, and he has since become dog food, so we thought maybe Angel will be happier if she goes home now. We hope Racer will protect her, or she can hide amongst the other hens. So, while we were moving things, we moved her back to the main pen. She jumped up into a nest and sat. Looks positive.

When we went out to feed them, all was well, the new girls actually laid an egg, and the babies came back to their original transition pen. Go figure. We checked on them after dark, and were glad to see that the new flock had worked out a really great sleeping arrangement. Sammie had 4 hens on the downstairs ledge with him, the babies were all packed into the upstairs nest box, with the other 2 hens on baby-duty. Makes sense to me. So we decided to add Coco and her-his buddy to the baby-cluster. Just plopped them right in the box. And said, "Go back to sleep." And they did.

Next morning, everybody's safe. Coco is a little ostracized, either because he-she is timid/afraid, or they won't be friendly, but he-she hangs out on the ledge or ramp and jumps down to get food until someone chases him-her back up. Appears to be holding his-her own and getting enough. The new hens have laid 2 eggs already, and the dillies have laid 3. Yay! No mice to eat them! But the BIG news is.... The new flock is cleaning up the transition pen. I saw those industrious hens running around with wriggling little mice in their beaks! No co- existing with a good protein source happening here! Yay! The mouse problem solved!  Yummy!